"flattery"

From Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864):

FLATTERY
"Men call you dog; now tell me why,"
A little girl said; in reply
Diogenes said, smiling at her,
"My child! how wickedly men flatter!"

After this tart little left-handed compliment on dogs, you will not be surprised to learn that the Encyclopedia Britannica's entry on Landor practically leads with "Educated at Rugby School and at Trinity College, Oxford, Landor spent a lifetime quarreling with his father, neighbours, wife, and any authorities at hand who offended him."
--Poem from Leonard, R. M. Poems On Animals. London: Humphrey Milford, 1915, p. 87.